that nitpicky voice in my head that says, "you don't know a d*** thing about writing. there are too many little things to fix. why do you even try?" and all because i was trying to make it better.
ok, so the editing i chose to do at the time will make it better, even though figuring out how to improve certain sentences made my head hurt, and i only got as far as the fourth or fifth chapter before i had to stop.
but as i went through it for that edit, i saw other things that i could edit. sentence structures i use too much. certain words i use too much. blah blah blah. the idea of editing was overwhelming. made me want to give up and toss the thing in the trash.
except that i won't. i love this story. it's driving me crazy right now because i had to start over, but i'm going to finish. this year. really. but i won't finish if i keep thinking of all the little things i could change. i'd be editing forever. and it would change the flavor of my writing. i like my style of writing.
granted, my style has changed since the last story, but that was my first and i had a lot to learn. my goal this time was to write a better crafted story. it won't be perfect. if i try to make it perfect, i'll lose the story, not to mention my mind.
3 comments:
I might not be the perfect self-editor but I'm sure my writing has improved over the last few years just by learning from other writers, critiquing and practicing different techniques. The craft is what it's all about! All we can do is keep at it!
Editing tends to freeze me up, too. I get overwhelmed thinking of everything that I should check for. Normally I hate checklists, but I find them very helpful for editing. But you definitely have to go with your gut to know when to stop editing, when it starts to meddle with your writing style...
Editing is so difficult.. I totally understand how you feel. Just know that it will get better and hopefully easier with practice.
Good luck!
:)
Andrea
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